CLERMONT, Fla. – The Southern New Hampshire University softball team opened up its 2014 campaign Saturday afternoon at the National Training Center in Clermont, Florida. The team split with a 7-3 win over Dowling College, and dropped a 2-1 decision to Notre Dame (Ohio) in its second game. The Penmen are now 1-1 overall.

In the first game of the day, SNHU scored four third inning runs to earn its first win over Dowling.

Holly Eicher (Stoneham, Mass.) was the first Penmen to make it around the bases in the first inning. After getting on base with a walk, she advanced to second on a sacrifice fly, and made it home on a Lindsey Bolduc (Londonderry, N.H.) RBI single to left field, to give SNHU a 1-0 lead.

However, Dowling was also able to get on the board in the first tying up the game with a lead-off double, and advancing to third on an error, and eventually scoring on a sacrifice fly to knot the game at 1-1 after the first inning.

After a scoreless second inning, the Penmen took charge, and scored four unanswered runs in the third. Sparked by a pair of singles from Mo Hannan (Scarborough, Maine) and Bolduc, Morgan Farmer (Kingston, N.H.) followed with an RBI double to score Hannan, and Cara Daly (Plainville, Mass.) hit a single to left field to score Bolduc. Back-to-back singles scored two more runs, and SNHU took a 5-1 advantage over the Golden Lions in the top of the inning, and retired the side in the bottom of the third.

The Penmen built on their lead once again in the fourth inning as Eicher got around the bases again after getting on with a walk, and Farmer drove her home with another RBI. Dowling answered in the bottom of the inning scoring twice to cut the lead to 6-3, but SNHU did not allow any more runs in the game.

Tesia Stanasek (Blackstone, Mass.) secured the win in the sixth inning for SNHU when she scored after getting on base with an infield single. Ali Maloof (Norwood, Mass.) advanced Stanasek with a fielder's choice, and Eicher sent her home with an RBI single to center field.

Dolores Mattice (Schenectady, N.Y.) pitched a complete game for the Penmen, allowing three runs, four hits, and striking out seven batters.

In the second game of the day, the Penmen fell late to Notre Dame (Ohio) by a score of 2-1.

SNHU scored in the first inning, and held its 1-0 lead up until the seventh, when the Falcons scored twice to take the win.

Maloof led off the first inning with a single, and made it around the bases quickly when Eicher followed with an RBI double to give the Penmen a 1-0 lead early in the game.

The Penmen defense put away the Falcons in the following six innings, not allowing a hit until the fifth. Maloof totaled eight strikeouts in the six inning stretch, giving up only three hits until the final inning.

With a 1-0 lead heading into the top of the seventh inning, Maloof retired the lead-of batter, but allowed a runner on base after giving up a single. Two consecutive SNHU errors following the single cost the Penmen the game, as the Falcons capitalized, and scored two runs to take a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the inning.

With the game on the line, Maloof led-off with a walk, but Notre Dame retired the next three batters en route to the victory.

Despite losing, Maloof had a no-hitter through four innings, and struck out eight batters overall.

The Penmen return to action tomorrow, when they continue play at the National Training Center and face Lake Erie at 1:00 p.m., followed by Florida Tech at 3:00 p.m.

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